FMT - Show how GST-free grocery became cheaper after zero-rating, minister told (extracts):
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PETALING JAYA: A consumer pressure group wants Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub to back up his claim that prices of meat, vegetables and other essentials have dropped by as much as 50% following the zero-rating of the goods and services tax (GST).
Malaysia Consumers Movement said many fresh food items were already exempted from GST before the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government scrapped GST payment for all items.
“We think it’s a premature statement from the minister. Achieving 30% to 50% savings in less than a month is magic,” its president Darshan Singh Dhillon told FMT.
“It will be great if he could back up his statement with some data and share it with the public,” he said.
Meanwhile, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Ali Salman also voiced doubt over the supposed price reduction due to the zero-rating of GST.
“We have said in the past that GST was not a primary factor in increasing cost of goods and services,” he said.
He added that because the perishable items were already zero-rated before, it was unlikely that their prices would be reduced with the new government’s move.
He said prices should be determined by market forces unless there was a public emergency or a situation that warranted government intervention.
Salahuddin had said the prices of fresh produce had dropped significantly after the GST was zero-rated on June 1.
He said it may take some time for prices of other goods and services to be reduced.
“Vegetable prices have dropped by 50% while prices of poultry and meat, such as beef, have also been reduced,” he said.
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Malaysia Consumers Movement said many fresh food items were already exempted from GST before the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government scrapped GST payment for all items.
“We think it’s a premature statement from the minister. Achieving 30% to 50% savings in less than a month is magic,” its president Darshan Singh Dhillon told FMT.
“It will be great if he could back up his statement with some data and share it with the public,” he said.
Meanwhile, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Ali Salman also voiced doubt over the supposed price reduction due to the zero-rating of GST.
“We have said in the past that GST was not a primary factor in increasing cost of goods and services,” he said.
He added that because the perishable items were already zero-rated before, it was unlikely that their prices would be reduced with the new government’s move.
He said prices should be determined by market forces unless there was a public emergency or a situation that warranted government intervention.
Salahuddin had said the prices of fresh produce had dropped significantly after the GST was zero-rated on June 1.
He said it may take some time for prices of other goods and services to be reduced.
“Vegetable prices have dropped by 50% while prices of poultry and meat, such as beef, have also been reduced,” he said.
The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) has said what I have said before, a fact rather than a politicised statement, that:
“........ GST was not a primary factor in increasing cost of goods and services”.
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But the kiasu attitude among some of my visitors have come up with all sorts of bullshit of ancillary costs, but which they haven't explained why that could be as much as 50% of the vegetables' cost.
Bullshit, kiasu and fake news.
Pakatan went into the campaign for GE14 with a bad promised policy of removing the GST when the consumption didn't hurt the poor as much as they lied about, as most fresh consumables including petrol were not subjected to GST.
Even my fave char koay teow was NOT GST-ed because the hawker was running a business with annual revenue of less than RM500,000, but thanks to some of my visitor, the kiasu-bullshit type, they inflated the cost of wantan to some extra 60 sens for GST to ancillary costs - what implausible bullshit.
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101% haram wantan |
Now the minister was not briefed properly, did not know what was GST-ed or not, or had fibbed.
The Truth is out there and which will set you free, you bloody chained Hell-Hound mongrels, chained to the will, dominance and manipulations of your new Tokong No 1.
